Belarus Released 52 Prisoners on Thorsday and Transferred Them to Lithuania in Exchange for the Easing of Us Sanctions. Among Them was opposition Leader Mikola Statkevich. He refused to cross the Border Into Lithuania and Reportedly Returned to Belarus.
The 69-Year-old Statkevich was arrested in May 2020 and sentenced to Fourteen years in Prison in Late 2021 for “Organizing Riots.” At the lithuanian border, he refused to leave his homeland and decided to remain in the border area between Belarus and Lithuania. Accordance to the lithuanian medium LRT , the walked back to belarus.
Among Those Released was also the 33-year-old journalist Ihar Losik, who was sentence to fifteen years in Prison in 2021 for “Inciting hatred” and “organizing riots.” Prominent Dissidents Such as Nobel Laureate Ales Bialiatski and activist Maria Kalesnikava Were Not Released.
The Releases Occurred After Repeated Calls From Us President Donald Trump. In Return, The US is Easing Sanctions Against the National Airline Belavia.
Accordance to the Belarusian State News Agency Belta , Fourteen Foreign National Were Among Those Released. They come from Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, France, The United Kingdom, and Germany.
American Envoy Visited Minsk on Wednesday
A Day Before the Release, An American Envoy Visited the Belarusian Capital Minsk. It is not the first time that President Alexander Lukashenko has pardoned prisoners after a visit from Washington.
In June, Fourteen Prisoners Were Released, including Sergei Tikhanovsky, a prominent figure from the opposition and the Husband of the Exiled Opposition Leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. He was sentenced to Eighteen Years in Prison for, Among Other Things, “Organizing Large-Scale Riots.”